THE EU summit descended into farce today as the struggling leaders of Europe failed to reach an agreement on its controversial budget plans.

EU officials announced that the summit had broken up without an agreement on the bloc's long-term budget.

The summit reached deadlock when a dispute broke out between the largest net contributors to the budget, including Britain, France and Germany, on how to maintain their own levels of subsidies without taking from elsewhere.

France in particular was unwilling to negotiate down the level of subsidies it received for its farmers as part of the Common Agricultural Policy.

A source in Brussels claimed that the leaders were too far apart in their thinking to reach appeasement.

Today, leaders met individually for talks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy after a day's failed negotiations.

An official advising Van Rompuy had already acknowledged that there were difficulties securing a long-term budget at the talks.